Hi, I am Che Ahn, Senior Pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena. I have been studying Ephesians, I have been meditating on Ephesians. The reason why is that we see in the Book of Acts, Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus in Acts 19. It was the pinnacle of his ministry. Great revival broke out that all of Asia heard the Gospel through that apostolic base. It also said that God did extraordinary miracles through the Apostle Paul.
So, I wanted to know, what was his theology? What was he thinking that brought so much fruit? One of the things he said was, “I pray God would grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of Him.” That was verse 17. But the next verse he says this, “That the eyes of your heart might be enlightened, that you would know the hope of your calling.
I want to just talk about your calling. I believe every single person is called. It is not just with a vocational ministry, you have a calling. Now, we know this is part of your identity, and discovering your calling is a major step to fulfilling your destiny. But we see that in Matthew 25, this parable of the talents was a major parable that was revolutionary during the Reformation of 1517 with Martin Luther. As he translated the Bible from Latin to common German, people started to read this. They said, “Oh my goodness, God has called me and he has given me talents and I need to steward that in order for me to fulfill my destiny.
Just a reminder of that parable, it gave one five talents, another two talents, another one talent. Now, a talent was a lot of money. One talent was worth a year’s wage. So, let’s say you make $100,000, and I may be prophesying to someone, you say, “I wish.” But let’s say it’s $100,000. Just imagine, five talents are $500,000. So, God is talking about huge sums of money. So, He wants to entrust you, in fact, He gives you the kingdom. He says in Luke 12:32, “It is a Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” But it is for us to steward.
One of the things you have to steward is your calling. We see in Matthew 25, He calls His servants. By the way, to know and how to fulfill your calling is that you have to have a servant’s heart. Jesus said, “If you want to be great in My Kingdom, you must be a servant of all.” And so, being a servant leader is huge. I love Romans 1:1 where Paul says, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel.” And I like that order. He said first I am a bondservant, then called so be an Apostle. A lot of times we start accentuating our calling as an Apostle. Or as a Pastor, or as a Prophet. No, God says, “No, you are first a servant and then you are called. And whatever that calling may be.” Of course, we are talking in this context of the Ephesians 4:11 calling of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
I believe that every believer has a strength in one of those five. A primary and secondary strength. You may be apostolic as a primary, but you may be an evangelist secondarily. I am describing myself. Because I feel that God has called me to lead as an Apostle and I can talk about Apostolic ministry because I just wrote a new book called Modern Day Apostles. By the way, you can get that on Amazon.com or CheAhn.org, my website, and you can order it.
But, what I emphasize, even in the Apostolic ministry, first and foremost, we are called to be servants. So, if you start there, all of a sudden, God will crystalize your calling because He uses humble vessels. He exalts the humble.
What I want to do is pray God will give you the grace to chose humility. Because this choice is a spiritual discipline. I wish I could lay hands on people and all of a sudden they get humble. Or I wish somebody who is humble would lay hands on me and I would be humble overnight. But it doesn’t work that way. It is a choice you make constantly in life. Before you know it, you have the valley of humility, you are walking in humility and servanthood. That is when God says,” Okay, I am going to exalt the humble.” He gives grace to the humble. Grace in that context is favor. I know God wants to bless you with extraordinary favor. It is very simple, my friend. Choose humility.
Fath, I pray right now that the eyes of the heart of those watching God Today would be enlightened. They would know the hope of their calling. That each one has a major call, but it begins with us being servants. And as we choose humility, and to serve and love others, I believe you will make clearer in the days ahead, the specific call on their lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.